


The Healer's Assistant

by Jimiel



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Hobbits are Skin Changers, Pony!Bilbo, Public Nudity - Kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-21
Updated: 2013-12-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 10:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1092863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jimiel/pseuds/Jimiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Near the end of the Fell Winter, Oin acquired the most unusual healer's assistant in existence. He doesn't let that stop him. After all, such an assistant can only be a gift from Mahal himself.</p>
<p>
  <i>Fic inspired by the <b>title only</b> of another fic!</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Healer's Assistant

**Author's Note:**

> _**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Hobbit or anything directly related to it. I do own a tube of chapstick, though!_
> 
> _**Author's Note:** This fic was inspired by the title only of another fic ("My Little Halfling" by OfDarkMind (Thank you!)) and egged on by a picture I found while browsing for pics that fit the idea that title inspired... See the end notes for a link to that pic!_

No one was sure exactly where Oin had picked the thing up. All they knew was that when the healers traveled around during the end of the Fell Winter he had found it. Oin wasn’t even sure exactly when it happened. It just seemed that one blustery day it was there and doing exactly what he needed. And, since it was very useful, who was Oin to deny the portents involved and keeping it?

The ‘it’ in question was, in fact, a miniature pony. The thing was covered in shaggy, thick, soft, brown, and curly fur that tended to be dark near his hooves and in his mane and long tail. The tips of the pony’s ears barely reached three feet when his head was held high and he had a very round middle. His dark eyes had held a range of emotions one didn’t normally associate with ponies and he was something of a mystery to the dwarrows of Ered Luin if for no reason other than the fact that it had been nearly thirty years since Oin had adopted him and the only difference during all that time was in the length of his tail.

According to Oin, he had been treating a patient in a run down hovel of a shack some ways south of Bree at the time. He had heard what he thought was footsteps and asked the new arrival to hand him a bowl. Well, the arrival had handed over the bowl, but when Oin finally had a moment to look up, he had fallen over in surprise to see the miniature pony waiting with a second bowl in its mouth, just in case! The entire rest of the time he had worked on the patient, the pony had been a surprising assistant, fetching and carrying anything Oin had asked for.

When the patient recovered, it soon became clear that it was not his pony and the uncanny intelligence of it actually frightened the poor man. So Oin, ever one to believe in the supernatural, had decided that the pony was meant for him and didn’t mind the little guy tagging along as he continued. It did take another hundred miles and fifteen patients before Oin first set up makeshift saddlebags to allow the pony to help carry supplies, though. And when Oin and the pony returned to Ered Luin, the pony was packed down with surplus food and medical supplies, Oin not letting the little thing carry anything too heavy, but he sang the pony praises for allowing him to carry more medicines and ointments on the journey.

It didn’t take long, by dwarrow standards, for the sight of a shaggy little pony following Oin about became commonplace. Oin was adamant that the pony was a gift from the Valar, guided by Mahal himself, as he was smart enough to understand common. Of course, living in a dwarrow town soon had Oin teaching the pony some words in Khuzdul as well. The other dwarrow laughed at that, right up until one miner was far too rude about it to Oin in front of the pony. Before anyone could say anything about the comment, the pony was neighing fiercely in the miner’s face before turning around and slamming a hoof hard enough into the miner’s leg that the bone snapped!

People were a lot more wary of and kinder to both Oin and the pony after that.

One aspect of the little pony had bother Oin’s brother-son for quite a few years. Gimli had been small enough to actually ride the tiny pony around in play when it had first arrived, and while now he was too big, he still adored the pony and it had always bothered him that Oin refused to name the pony.

When asked to name it, Oin would merely shrug and say, “T’isn’t for me to name a direct gift from Mahal… When he wants to be named, he’ll let me know.”

It would be thirty years before the pony let Oin know his name. Though really it was only Oin’s habit of paying attention to physical cues from the animal that gave the name away. Oin had been closeted with his cousins as they were nearing the end stage of planning their attempt to reclaim Erebor when it happened.

The young princes Fili and Kili were feeding the lounging pony slices of apple while the elders talked and it was during the talking that Oin finally saw some cues he would never have suspected if he hadn’t been the superstitious sort.

“We’ll need to find a fourteenth member. Can’t have an unlucky number of in the company.” Oin reminded absently, more watching everyone that listening to the goings on, mostly because his hearing was going.

“Just count the pony as number fourteen. It isn’t like he’ll let you go without him anyway.” Fili teased loudly from where he was braiding the pony’s mane, his share of the apple slices already disappeared down the seemingly bottomless pit of the animal’s stomach.

Both Oin and the pony rolled their eyes despite the truth of the statement.

Thorin, far too serious to bother with the teasing, spoke up. “Tharkun has said he will find us a fourteenth. A Hobbit from the Shire to be our burglar, he says.”

The pony was suddenly paying attention to Thorin, its posture no longer looking so relaxed. Oin tilted his head curiously at the tensing animal.

“What’s a Hobbit?” Kili was paying attention to Thorin as well now, the last slice of his apple held in front of the suddenly disinterested pony’s nose.

The pony turned to look at Kili, giving a soft whicker and tapping one of his back hooves against the floor as if he were trying to answer. Oin narrowed his eyes as Thorin spoke up. “Halfling creatures, soft and mostly farmers.” His tone was dismissive and, though he wasn’t paying attention, Oin definitely caught the suddenly angry look given to the throneless king by a shaggy little pony.

Balin gave Thorin a disapproving look as well, which the king ignored as well, before speaking. “I’ll draw up a contract. Did Tharkun give a name for the Hobbit?”

Oin listened, watching as the pony’s ears pricked forward and he almost strained to hear the answer of the king.

“Yes, Bilbo Baggins, or something like that. Claimed he was just the burglar we’d need for this task and that we were to meet at his hole in the Shire before setting out.”

Oin wasn’t listening anymore, because as soon as Thorin spoke the name he saw the pony’s eyes get so wide they almost fell out of his skull before giving a slow, disbelieving shake of his head. The pony suddenly pulled away from the princes and was up, trotting swiftly to the door before grabbing the handle in his teeth and tugging the unlatch the door before pushing it open and leaving the conference room. Oin watched, now joined by Kili and Fili, him disbelieving and them bemused, as the sharp crack of a hoof striking stone heralded the sudden slamming of the door.

Thorin, Balin, and Dwalin looked up, glancing around to see that Oin, Fili, and Kili were still in the room. Fili and Kili traded looks before bursting out laughing.

“Did you see that, uncle?” Kili crowed, falling over in his laughter. “He’s jealous that you’re replacing him with a Hobbit as number fourteen.”

But Oin did not agree with that assessment.

Later that night, Oin stood in the doorway to the room that had long ago been converted into a combination of bedroom and makeshift stable. Though the pony ate most of his meals in the small kitchen with Oin, the dwarrow had left a large trough of hay and grain in the pony’s room alongside another large trough of water. (The pony ate an amazing amount given his size.) He was unsurprised to find the pony lying down on the thick, straw-filled, leather pallet that was his bed and staring sulkily at the wall. After a moment of watching, Oin spoke.

“Bilbo.”

Instantly the pony’s head whipped around to stare at the dwarrow with eyes so wide the whites were showing.

Oin and the pony, Bilbo, stared at each other for a long time before Oin let out a sigh. “I always knew there was something special about you… So now you and I are going to play questions.” He moved into the room, shutting the door firmly behind him and ignoring the obvious flinch as he lowered down to sit in front of the door and completely block the only exit out of the room.

“Now… Is your name Bilbo?”

After a moment, the pony nodded slowly.

“Bilbo Baggins?”

Another slow nod.

“Are you a Hobbit?”

A nod and Oin let out an explosive breath. “Were ye cursed?”

Bilbo shook his head and Oin frowned. “Are all Hobbits like you? I thought they were like half-men or something.”

Bilbo the pony hesitated at the first part and, at the muttered second part, gave an indignant neigh that shocked Oin.

“Well what am I supposed to think? I’ve never seen a Hobbit and ye can’t exactly talk now, can ye?” Something about the sudden turn of Bilbo’s head, as if he were nervous, made Oin draw in his breath and lean forward. “Can ye?”

The pony stood up, shifting around on all his hooves for a moment, hesitating. He shook himself, looked around as if for an escape route, and finally gave a heavy sigh before doing something that nearly caused Oin to faint dead away… He seemed to puff up, becoming almost twice his size, the sounds of bones crackling and twisting, a pained sounding groan coming from between clenched teeth, before seeming to shrink in on himself and suddenly Oin wasn’t looking at a pony anymore. He was looking at a small Hobbit, crouched down on his hands and large furry feet, looking at Oin through shaggy, long curls with dark eyes and a frightened look, naked as the day he was born. Wobbling slightly, the newly revealed Hobbit, moved to a standing position, arms slightly to the side as he relearned his center of gravity.

Oin studied him, noticing that from below the knee to the tops of his toes, the obviously young looking Hobbit had the same brown curls on his lower legs and feet that had covered his entire body as a pony. What had been stocky, if soft from being spoiled, pony flesh was now soft Hobbit flesh, making him chubby, and definitely the same roundness of the middle. His hair was a long mess that reached down to the small of his back, and was somehow the same mess of multiple shades of brown that had previously been his _tail_ , a fact that threatened to make Oin’s head ache.

After standing upright, only half a foot taller than he’d been as a pony, Bilbo sketched an unsteady bow. He gave a soft whicker sound before clearing his throat and trying again. His words were just as shaky as his movements, having obviously gone a long time without speaking or walking on two legs. “Bilbo Baggins… At your service.”

Oin paused in his reply, thinking back to how he had been assisted by Bilbo since they had met, and gave a welcoming smile. “Aye, that ye have been… And all the more welcome to ye, laddie.”

**Author's Note:**

> [](http://seien.0x44.me/HobbitFicStuff/Pony-Bilbo.jpg)
> 
> I have no idea if that pony is male, female, both, or neither... I just know that it is pony!Bilbo in my head. Also, if something else comes to mind, I may very well update this fic, but at this point I have no plans to continue it.
> 
> Edit 17-07-2014: It came to my attention that the original link to the image I selected for Pony!Bilbo was no longer valid. Thankfully I had saved a copy of the image to my computer so I uploaded it and fixed the link. I have no idea who took the picture originally, but I thank them. :)


End file.
